Murray Now

In 1993 Ken Bates of Deniliquin saw a real need for a soil mapping business to be established in the Murray Region when the rice industry was deregulated and the cost of cropping inputs began to rise. The need to assist farmers in the specialised field of soil mapping was never more evident. With increased water availability in the area, and the deregulation of the rice industry saw the potential of opening up vast tracks of land for irrigation. In the early days Advanced Soil Mapping (ASM) drilled potential rice land to a depth of 3.6 metres on a 200 x 200 metre grid to provide farmers with the necessary data on whether their land had the capability of holding water to grow rice.

ASM has been instrumental in developing soil criteria for dry land, horticulture, viticulture, rice growing and channel seepage investigations over the past 18 years. The development of the use in remote sensing and the introduction of new and innovative methods of soil collection and interpretation has been a catalyst for the growth in ASM’s expanding business throughout Australia. Ken says that he is grateful to the researchers including CSIRO, REPAG, NSW DPI, Vic DPI, Murray Irrigation and others to numerous to mention for the contribution that they have made in developing these new and innovative systems.

The information gathered assists farmers in better managing soil types and identifying any soil constraints that may exist. Farmers can then increase their farm efficiencies by using less or more fertilisers, gypsum or lime and eliminate the guesswork of what crop to grow and where. ASM is a valuable tool for the farming community to ascertaining what soil constraints exist on their properties and make better use of farming resources. With rising operating costs and a future with less water, the information that ASM provides to the farmer is imperative.

Ken has worked with many farmers and irrigation companies to develop his business into an all round system which now includes a chemical soil testing laboratory. Advanced Soil Testing (AST) is an ASPAC certified chemical laboratory specializing in chemical soil analysis. ASM now have the capability to do any job associated with soil testing without time delay. Ken has calculated that he has drilled over 300,000,000 test holes and has EM surveyed over 1 million hectares.

With the Farm Innovation Technology Expo in Deniliquin just around the corner, you can catch up with Ken in person at the ASM site or click here to contact him direct.